BACON MELTS

 How’d you like a couple of these for breakfast? There are a lot of  spicer recipes out there but Mike doesn’t like his bacon flavor challenged. In a large frypan cook four large eggs plus ample butter. Set aside.

1 tablespoon sea salt, 8 pieces rye bread basted with Mayo, slices of cheddar cheese, two sliced tomatoes, cook bacon separate and mix together in bowl. Spread on sandwich and then add one egg per sandwich. Mike prefers more bacon on his. Simple but highly effective.

Guess who be going out for dinner tonight?

Camp Martin Johnson Sailing Program

Is it possible that Big Bass Lake once had a regatta? Well, with the expert sailers that once sailed the sky blue waters of Big Bass Lake under the superb instruction of Camp Martin Johnson staff, it well could have been possible. And wouldn’t that have been something to see!

With their brightly colored masts dotting the landscape of the lake it must have been fantastic to observe. And this is but one aspect of the camp’s waterfront program. Check out our other posts on the camp.

One also has to wonder how many other propertiies on Big Bass Lake have sailboats? I know just about every other kind of watercraft exists on the lake, but what about sailboats? Are they still found on the lake today?

Little Manistee Kayaking

 You probably heard me mention Driftwood Valley and bear track before as they are stopovers on the little Manistee River. This river is a challenge to me as constant attention must be given. There are so many twists and turns to this River and one must be constantly aware of what you’re doing or you’ll wind up in the river bank. The river is ice cold nearly year round and a good current to it. Just past bear track the river picks up its pace a bit to the point where you can almost call them Rapids. Eventually the river winds up in Manistee. Even though I know it’s December I can look forward to a scene like this in a few months.

Bacon in the Frying Pan

Late autumn camping trips are the best. When I awake and pull myself out of my tent there’s nothing better than the aroma of hot coffee and bacon frying in the pan. A few weeks ago my friend Stan and I went on a late fall camping outing in the Manistee National Forest. This year has been unusually warm so far and our weekend was just great. It did get cold in the night hours but my sleeping bag is geared to those temperatures.

Stan’s profession just happens to be a chef and can he ever prepare meals.  He put something in the bacon that enhanced its taste one-hundred-fold.  But try and get that secret out of him is impossible as he claims it is a family recipe that has been handed down for generations.  His flapjacks that day were unusually good as well.

It’s good to have a cook along with you when camping as he did all that activity for me.  I did the fishing and he cleaned and cooked them.  He enjoyed added a breaded covering over whatever I caught that made them taste A-1.  I might have to invite Stan along more often.  You know, camping should make one lose some weight but I think I gained about five pounds on that recent trip. 

Stan’s bacon literally melt in my mouth and left me wanting for more.  I looked so forward to our three breakfasts on that trip and still can envision that bacon in his frying pan to this hour.  Was it ever great!

Pier on the Narrows of Big Bass Lake

I consider myself somewhat of a dock expert. Some also call them piers. I am amazed at home some very expensive homes have quite simiple piers while other more modest homes have large ones.  Some are set at various angles, such as the one you see here, and others are just straight out into the lake.  Our pier was a T-frame and at the end of the T was a bench that was used either for fishing or thinking.  Some of the best philosophes must have sat on some of those docks.

A few docks have ladders with them for swimming while others are more for tethering boats to the pier.  Our dock stayed in the water year-round which could explain why it was so warped.  Most people pull in their docks just after Labor Day or shortly thereafter. 

Since I like examining docks so much I wonder if that could get me an exemption from the medical profession?

Pasti Recipe # 3 & 4

Here is our third recipe for Pasti. Enjoy!

DOUGH:
5 1/2 c. water
1/4 c. salt
2 1/2 c. Crisco lard
6 1/4 lb. flour
1 tbsp. baking powder

FILLING:
14 c. potatoes, diced
6 c. (3 lbs.) hamburger
2 c. onions, diced
2 1/2 tbsp. salt
4 c. carrots, grated
3 c. rutabaga, cubed or grated
1 tsp. pepper

Mix together filling for pasties ahead of time and refrigerate before preparing the dough. Mix the dough ingredients and roll out on floured surface the size of small pie crust. Add appropriate amount of filling to crust and fold crust over pinching edges. The result will be a fist sized individual meat pie. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until ingredients are fully cooked.

Then try out Pasti Recipe #4

Ingredients
3 c. flour
1 c. suet, ground fine
1/4 c. lard
1 tsp. salt
12 tbsp. cold water (or more)
1 lb. beef, diced or cubed
1/2 lb. pork, diced or cubed
Potatoes
Onions
Turnips
Carrots
Butter

Blend lard into flour and salt, then add suet and work thoroughly. Add cold water and make a soft dough. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each crust into a 6-inch round. On half of the dough, build up the following ingredients: 1/2-inch layer of finely chopped potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper; 1/2- inch layer of sliced turnip, carrot, chopped onion, beef chopped and pork, and season once more. Add piece of butter to top of ingredients. Now fold the uncovered portion of the dough over the filled portion and crimp the edges – shape of a half moon. Make 1-inch slit in the top of the dough and place prepared pasties on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour. Check while baking to make sure they don’t burn.

You might want to let us know which Pasti recipe yielded the best product for you of all four of our pasti recipe’s thus far and we still have one to go!

The Strange Depression On Our Field

Not far behind our old barn on the field is a strange depression that looks for all appearances to be about the exact shape as the indention of a flying saucer. It is the only place on our half-mile long field with a depression like that. In fact, it is the only indention on that entire field. How did it get there?

Well, it made for a great story line outside our woods for boys club campers. None of the kids could explain that depression either. They were quite dumbfounded as to how it got there but that is the same amazement that has held me captive since I was a young boy. I’ve visited that location many times and sometimes if I had the motivation would start digging there just to check it out more thoroughly.

Can you imagine if you were driving down the Big Bass Lake Road on the southwest side of the lake and saw a flying saucer there? Would you stop to check it out or continue on your way even a tad quicker than usual? The haunted island has a more vivid story to it but this one remains a gigantic mystery as to how that depression was formed in a field that is otherwise 100% flat? Maybe Rod Serling might have had an answer for one of his Twilight Zone programs?

Marty on the Mound

This is Marty of the Mishawaka Boys Club. I am now his mentor as he does not have a father. I had a chance to coach him in this baseball league but opted not to. Instead I’m his biggest fan and encourager. After the game we head out for burger and fries. Then I help him with his homework. I never had much chance to work with kids before but I enjoy this one. Marty makes me laugh as he loves doing silly faces. Later this summer I plan to take him on a fishing trip along with my dog Lucky. Mentoring is important to children so if you ever get the chance try it out for yourself.

Our Shoreline on Big Bass Lake

This is what our property shoreline looked like near the Pointe. To the left of this picture out of sight was our wooded beachfront. Just behind that is where our boys club kids pitched their tents and dug our two fire pits.  There was much wood to gather in this location.  The boys learned how to use the hatchet and axe to cut down dead trees and glean from them their wood for the fire.

Not far into this location is where we put our latrine with a tarp to cover the front end facing Big Bass Lake.  To the right of this picture is our Pointe where we had a secondary beach area complete with tire swing,  At times a tent for the older boys was pitched at that location. 

As you can see the whole area was under a great canopy of trees and even when it rained precious few drops hit us very hard.  This area was a great location for all of our camping trips with either YMCA’s or Boys Clubs of America.